title: Investigation of femtosecond laser--enabled keratoplasty wound geometry using optical coherence tomography.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To measure the wound geometry after femtosecond laser-enabled keratoplasty (FLEK) using optical coherence tomography (OCT).
  
  
  METHODS
  Prospective nonrandomized clinical study and laboratory study.
  
  
  METHODS
  Patients who were candidates for penetrating keratoplasty at an academic referral center.
  
  
  METHODS
  Wound architecture was measured and analyzed by OCT in 8 eyes of 8 consecutive patients who underwent FLEK. Femtosecond laser lamellar cuts were performed on 3 eye bank corneas, and the wound diameters were measured by OCT.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Sutures were completely removed on average at 1 month per decade of age after surgery. No cases of wound dehiscence were noted, and graft-host tissue apposition appeared excellent on OCT. The mean spectacle-corrected visual acuity 1 month after suture removal was 20/35, and mean astigmatism was 5.0 diopters by manifest refraction and 8.7 diopters by computerized topography. The measured graft diameter was smaller than the laser setting by 2.5% (P = 0.007). The cut diameters of the eye bank corneas were also slightly smaller than the laser setting.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  FLEK offers benefits of rapid wound healing and predictable wound geometry. The measured wound geometry agreed well with laser setting other than a small systematic deviation that could be explained by the mechanics of corneal applanation during the laser cut. OCT is a useful tool to measure the actual graft diameter after FLEK.
authors.affiliation: Center for Ophthalmic Optics and Lasers, Doheny Eye Institute and Department of Ophthalmology, Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90033, USA.
authors.forename: Martin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Heur
authors.forename: Maolong
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Tang
authors.forename: Samuel
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Yiu
authors.forename: Xinbo
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Huang
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D019781:Corneal Topography; D005260:Female; D005583:Fourier Analysis; D006801:Humans; D015948:Keratoplasty, Penetrating / Q000379:methods*; D053685:Laser Therapy / Q000379:methods*; D008297:Male; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012029:Refraction, Ocular / Q000502:physiology; D013536:Suture Techniques; D000267:Tissue Adhesions; D041623:Tomography, Optical Coherence; D014792:Visual Acuity / Q000502:physiology; D014945:Wound Healing / Q000502:physiology*; D055815:Young Adult